Wyoming wildlife managers plan to reduce how many wolves can be hunted by 50% following a canine distemper outbreak that has in two decades.
A 22-wolf cap is the fewest number of wolves available to licensed Wyoming hunters since the state began allowing wolf hunting after Endangered Species Act protections were lifted in 2012. The limit also marks a significant decrease from last fall鈥檚 wolf hunting season.
鈥淎s far as the overall mortality limit, it鈥檚 exactly half,鈥� Wyoming Game and Fish Department wolf biologist Ken Mills told WyoFile.
Last year, hunters could target in the area around the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, where Wyoming classifies wolves as trophy game during the Sept. 15-Dec. 31 season. Hunters bound to in that zone managed to kill 31 wolves.
It wasn鈥檛 hunting, however, that resulted in the lowest population since wolves were still being established after the . Biologists say a canine distemper outbreak is the primary culprit in the decline. The measles-like disease is especially deadly for puppies, and it was detected in 64% of the animals that Wyoming biologists handled during work last year.
As the calendar turned to 2026, Mills and federal biologists tallied 253 wolves and 14 breeding pairs statewide. Those are decreases, respectively, of 23% and 42% from the 330 wolves and 24 breeding pairs estimated at the end of 2024.
奥测辞尘颈苍驳鈥檚 is designed to increase the wolf population in the trophy game area, located in the state鈥檚 mountainous northwest corner. The population in that zone decreased 19% to 132 wolves in 2025 鈥� a figure that鈥檚 well below the state鈥檚 160-animal objective.
鈥淲e want to grow the population by 28 wolves,鈥� Mills said.
Driving 奥测辞尘颈苍驳鈥檚 desire to increase numbers of the controversial native canine is the 160-wolf objective designed to ensure that the state meets its obligations with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. When the state first gained jurisdiction over wolves 14 years ago, 奥测辞尘颈苍驳鈥檚 delisting agreement called for maintaining at least 10 breeding pairs in the trophy game area. In 2025, there were exactly 10 breeding pairs, which shows that the margin for error is thin at the current lower population.
The reductions to 奥测辞尘颈苍驳鈥檚 wolf hunting quotas aren鈥檛 uniform.
鈥淭he wolf numbers in the Cody, Lander and Pinedale regions were relatively stable in 2025,鈥� Mills said. 鈥淭he largest reduction was in the Jackson region.鈥�
As a result, Game and Fish is proposing to reduce the limit, from 19 to six, for wolves that can be killed in four conjoined hunt areas (units 8, 9, 10 and 11) spanning from Jackson Hole into the Green River basin. The state鈥檚 draft regulations also call for relaxing the limit on wolves that can be hunted along the west slope of the Tetons and in the Teton Wilderness (units 6 and 7) from five animals to no more than two.
There are major hunt wolves, and it鈥檚 unclear if Montana and Idaho will follow suit and decrease hunting pressure near Yellowstone National Park. 奥测辞尘颈苍驳鈥檚 distemper outbreak was regionwide and also hit Yellowstone packs, which only managed to produce 17 surviving pups 鈥� the lowest count in .
In Montana, where hunters and trappers can kill 15 wolves apiece, wildlife managers do use a quota system near the Yellowstone boundary to ease impacts on . Idaho, meanwhile, allows largely unfettered wolf hunting on the western side of the ecosystem.
Wyoming manages wolves similarly, with few regulations, on the outskirts of the Yellowstone region. Where the species is classified as a 鈥減redator鈥� 鈥� in 85% of the state 鈥� wolves and there are no hunting limits to be altered as a result of the population decline.
Game and Fish will host several northwestern Wyoming about its wolf hunting proposals. They鈥檒l take place at 6 p.m. May 26 in Jackson; 6 p.m. May 28 in Cody; 6 p.m. June 2 in Pinedale; and 6 p.m. June 3 in Lander.
Public comments can be submitted at through June 10.
The state agency鈥檚 commission must also OK the draft hunting regulations. Commissioners plan to take up the issue at their July 14-15 meeting in Sheridan.
Mills anticipates hearing from detractors on both sides of the wolf hunting issue.
鈥淭here will be people frustrated that the mortality limit is lower,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd members of the public that probably think we shouldn鈥檛 hunt wolves at all.鈥�
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